ZEB WAS ONE OF THE FOUR EXECUTIVES of the Auros Familgia, as well as the youngest in the Auros siblings. Like his family, he can transform into an auroch and an auroch-human hybrid form. Both forms drastically enhance their physical strength.

Zeb was currently in his auroch-human hybrid form when he confronted Daisuke and Siegfried. He was standing roughly six and a half feet tall with his body looking all muscular and hairy. His head and face have bovine traits and the most prominent were his two overgrown horns.

As Zeb charged toward Daisuke and Siegfried, he changed into a full auroch form and ran at his top speed.

“Can you slow it down?” Siegfried asked as he went up the roofs.

“On it!” Daisuke punched the ground, sending a wave of roots towards Zeb that erupted into a cherry blossom tree in succession, but the speed of Zeb made it easy for him to run through and trample the trees.

It was enough though for Siegfried. The collision and the frenzied root on the ground were enough to make the charging Zeb slow down a bit. Siegfried was already midair and was about to slash Zeb downwards.

“Take this!!”

Siegfried spun as he dropped from the sky. His swords made contact with the auroch’s nape, but they did not even make a scratch.

Zeb made a U-turn, reverts to his hybrid form, and attacked Siegfried with his humongous fist.

Siegfried blocked Zeb’s fist with his swords, but the force still made him skid back.

Daisuke then appeared behind Zeb, and with a right Wooden Arm, he punched Zeb on the back of his head, making Zeb stagger a little.

Zeb turned around and swung his arm, barely missing as Daisuke ducked.

Daisuke created a tree below him that sent him upwards and released a right uppercut that hits Zeb directly at his chin, making Zeb wobble.

Siegfried followed up with an Yggdrasil Style: Brimuspelheim – Cross Fire Slash. “Eat this!!” He struck Zeb’s back in a cross-pattern with blazing flame made from one of the runic symbols on his swords.

Zeb stumbled on his knee, but Daisuke was not done yet. He created a tree below him once again to propel himself toward Zeb and struck him straight to his face with his right Wooden Arm.

Immediately afterward, Daisuke and Siegfried backed far away, both of them trying to catch their breath.

Zeb smirked.

“What’s so funny?!” asked Daisuke.

Zeb spat a tooth. “All that, for a piece of tooth. But at least you two pose more challenge than those Lumbard Famiglia small fries.” He stood up and began to change form again.

This time, his height became closer to his original height but his physique resembled a more refined auroch-human hybrid. It was as if his muscles became more compact and he became leaner. His face became more of his original face without too many auroch traits, except for the long horns that were still there.

Both Daisuke and Siegfried were stunned, their jaws almost hanged.

“P-Please tell us that is your final form,” said Daisuke.

“We, from the Auros family, have the Karma to transform freely into aurochs, back to our human form, and everything in between, like this more refined hybrid form. After all, bulkier is not necessarily more powerful.”

Siegfried prepared his stance, his sword’s flame intensified “Uhh...Daisuke, I think now is a good time to go...avatar-ish.”

Daisuke faced Siegfried with a worried look. “I...uhh...actually don't know how to do that again.”

Zeb dug his feet into the ground, and with one strong leap, he bursts toward Daisuke and Siegfried, catching their neck with his bulky arms and performing a double lariat.

Daisuke and Siegfried both got knocked down to the ground, the impact causing a small crater.

Zeb followed with a strong downward kick towards Siegfried, straight to his abdomen, and immediately fell unconscious. “Sorry, Drasgardian. I have no need for you.”

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Daisuke tried to get up, but Zeb grabbed him by the neck. He tried to resist, but Zeb’s grip was just too strong.

“Hmmm. Are you sure you are an elf? I thought elves have unique patterns on their skin. All you got is this brown complexion…”

Daisuke choked as he continued to struggle.

“Doesn’t matter. As long as you are the dark-skinned elf I am looking for. Now, go to sleep.”

Daisuke wanted to invoke the power he used back at Shiromori. Unfortunately, he doesn't really remember how. A few seconds more and Daisuke fell unconscious as well.

Zeb's two personal henchmen arrived. He tossed the unconscious Daisuke to them. “You two done with those small fries?”

“Yes, sir. We’ve caught them all unprepared for a surprise attack after all,” said one of the henchmen.

“Great, now take that to Saint Fontana. And make sure you put runic shackles on him. We don’t want him using his power to escape.”

“Yes, sir!” shouted the henchmen.

But before they could reach Daisuke, three Lumbard Famiglia executives appeared.

* * * * *

The president of Elysia, Veneto Armani, was busy doing paperwork when an officer suddenly barged in.

“President Armani! My apologies, but this is urgent.”

“Oh, gods. Please tell me it is not them.”

“Unfortunately, sir, it is them. The Auros Famiglia attacked the Lumbard Famiglia at the city of Saint Crudeo.”

The president took off his glasses and placed his palm on his face. “When will this ever end?” He breathes deeply. “How many casualties do we have?”

“Sir, according to the reports we received, there were at least fifty civilians that got injured, but all of them were already healed and away from any life-threatening conditions.”

“Healed? What do you mean?”

“The people that were evacuated to the farmlands were reported to be healed by a foreigner with runic magic.”

“Mr. President. May I come in?” asked a uniformed man who appeared behind the government official that is reporting.

“Antonio. Please come in. And you, come in here as well.”

Both of them went inside and were seated.

“Are you two talking about the incident at Saint Crudeo?” asked the man named Antonio

The president sighed, “Yes. They are at it again.”

“Mr. President, don’t you think it is time for the national government to intervene?”

“It would be unwise if we stick our noses to their conflict. The least we could do is assist the civilians after the local police already have everything under control.”

“With all due respect, Mr. President, the Mafia Famiglia are not invincible. We have the weapons that can deal with them. And with the Silence Torches, their Karma doesn't even threaten us anymore. It is high time we enforce order in other regions.”

“You want to enforce order in those four regions? All under the influence of the so-called Mafia Famiglia? We are lucky that they are at each other’s throats and not ours. I want to keep it that way as much as possible.”

“One family runs an assassination business. Another does a slave trade. There's a family that focuses on arms dealing. And another one who sells counterfeit goods. They are tarnishing the name of Elysia, Mr. President,” Antonio said, carefully not raising his voice to the president.

Veneto sighed. “Look, Antonio. Unless you can show us concrete evidence that these businesses exist, our hands are tied. Even our intelligence agency has nothing against them. If you know anything, I’m all ears.”

Antonio flinched, “J-Just like you said, I have no evidence. I…I just hear stories from people. That’s all.”

Veneto managed a smile. “I understand. People tend to exaggerate things just because these families are Karma users and are very influential. Very well, let the Secretary of Internal Affairs deal with them. Your job is to ensure our land is well-defended and our army prepared from any outside threat.”

Antonio didn’t argue further. “What should we do in Saint Crudeo then?”

“Officer, keep us posted on the events. Antonio, mobilize an infantry unit to help the civilians to raise a temporary shelter until we fix all the damages at Saint Crudeo and assist in fixing up the city.”

* * * * *

At Saint Fontana, the Auros siblings—who are also the executives of the Auros Famiglia—and the current family head, Don Tauran Auros, were having a conversation in their manor’s bar.

“Where’s Zeb?” asked Don Tauran.

“He told me that he was going out for some business stuff,” Gauro replied, the eldest among Auros siblings.

“Yeah, right. He is going out for some "business" stuff?” said Yakia, the only daughter of Auros family and third eldest among the siblings.

“I’m sure he is out doing non-productive things again. We really shouldn’t make him handle the slave house,” Kouper commented, the second eldest among the siblings.

“Someone go find him. It’s not like every day he does something right. Planting those expendable spies and actually catching Luca's top hitman, that's one hell of a feat he and you Gauro did.”

“It was just dumb luck,” Gauro dismissed the praise. “Lars and I already fought before, and I know he is not the type to make such a stupid mistake.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we made their force weaker. Soon, we will be able to launch an all-out invasion of Saint Margherrite. With the Giovannis joining us, we will be unstoppable.”

“How about the Caponilis?” asked Yakia. “Have they made up their mind? We don’t want them suddenly coming and fighting alongside the Lumbards once we invade Mozzarea.”

“Do not worry, child. The Caponilis are too busy with their own business. They couldn’t care less about the Lumbards. And once we're done with the Lumbards, they’re the ones who we will target next.”

“And the Giovannis?”

Don Tauran only smiled and finished his glass of scotch.

Kouper finished his glass of scotch as well. “I’ll go and look for Zeb. I wanted to go to Saint Langrea anyway.”

“Yakia dear, please check on Lars quickly. Make sure the runic shackles are intact,” Don Tauran asked. “Those shackles were too damn overpriced.”

“With pleasure, father,” Yakia smilingly complied.

Once Yakia was gone, Gauro looked at their father. “She obviously has a crush on Lars.”

“Yep,” Tauran agreed.